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SIS Student Awards Program

The School of Information Sciences (SIS) offers a series of awards to acknowledge student achievement in various aspects of the IS field and promotion of the University of Tennessee Volunteer spirit.

Gary R. Purcell Award

The Gary R. Purcell Award honors the memory of the school’s first director. The faculty present this award to a student who shows unusual promise as a leader in the field of information sciences, in research and innovation, intellectual activity and creativity and management. It is an award for overall excellence rather than excellence in any one particular area alone. For the purpose of this award, “leadership” is defined as the ability to make a significant change for the better for a group of people, a technology or institution, and to advance the intellectual discipline of the information sciences.

CCI Outstanding Information Sciences Graduate Award

The CCI Outstanding Information Sciences Graduate Award is given to a graduating information sciences student who has demonstrated excellence in their academic work and shows extraordinary professional promise.

Academic Achievement Award

The purpose of the Academic Achievement Award is to recognize a student for excellence in academic work, such as coursework, presentations, thesis, and/or manuscripts submitted for publication.

Outstanding Service Award

The purpose of the Outstanding Service Award is to recognize a student who has shown exemplary, continuous, dedicated, and voluntary service to the SIS community.

Best Paper Award

The Best Paper Award recognizes excellence in writing, research and critical thinking. It is limited to research papers that contain some original contribution by the student. Deadline for nominations is March 31. Submit Nominations Here.

Best Project Award

The Best Project Award recognizes outstanding work that is not a research paper. Projects might include a website or other electronic resource, collection development plan, database design and/or implementation, instructional materials, systems analysis plan and/or implementation, information visualization, or other projects that demonstrate the integration of theoretical and technical knowledge. Deadline for nominations is March 31. Submit Nominations Here.

Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award

The Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award recognizes excellence in writing, research, and critical thinking. Awards may not be given every year. This award will be conferred at the School’s Hooding and Awards Ceremony in May. Make nominations for the award by 4/14 here.

The Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award recognizes excellence in writing, research, and critical thinking. Awards may not be given every year. This award will be conferred at the School’s Hooding and Awards Ceremony in May.

Eligibility and Nomination

The Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award is limited to work that contains an original contribution. The thesis will contain a substantial research component and be, in whole or in part, of publishable quality. The work must address some aspect of the information sciences, broadly interpreted. A thesis may be submitted only once. Eligible Thesis must have been successfully defended by the award submission deadline. The theses eligible for the award are those successfully defended in the current spring and past fall and summer semesters. The nomination must be endorsed by the Chair of the Thesis Committee.

Evaluation Criteria

The student must be in good academic standing. The Thesis will be evaluated based on:

  • Presentation and preparation quality.
  • Writing quality.
  • Organizational quality.
  • Quality of analysis and comment.
  • Originality of contribution.
  • Use of appropriate literature/resources.